


Wedding Date

by Shandibeary



Category: SHINee
Genre: Escort Service, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 07:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20205892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shandibeary/pseuds/Shandibeary
Summary: Minho is tired of his family constantly asking him why he's single, so when he gets invited to the wedding of a family member, he reluctantly makes the desperate decision to call an escort agency.





	Wedding Date

I knew this was coming…

Of course I knew, I was the one who introduced them after all. I got the 'Oh my God, Minho, he's perfect' call, I'd been the awkward third wheel a few times, I was there for the _ super  _ sweet, cavity inducing proposal and I was there at the engagement party.

It really was just a matter of time before this ominous square piece of paper found its way to me.

Jonghyun and Jinki's wedding invitation.

Sure, it didn't  _ sound _ scary, but it was. It was simple and neat, black and white because Jonghyun always had a weird aversion to color.   


Monochrome… the most terrifying of palette choices.

Ok, no, I had no issues with the invitation. I also had zero issues with the happy couple. On the contrary, I was ecstatic, honestly. Jonghyun even asked me to be his best man and I accepted immediately. They were the perfect pair and I was  _ so _ happy that they were finally getting married.

Jonghyun and Jinki were not the problem…  _ literally everybody else  _ that would be at that wedding was the real problem. Ok, that might have been a little bit of an over exaggeration;  _ most _ people at the wedding.

See, Jonghyun - my cousin - obviously invited his -  _ our -  _ large family to his wedding. Which doesn't seem like a bad thing in theory, but if the engagement party was anything to go by, I really was not going to have a good time.

I couldn't even remember how many times I heard the words 'Are you still single?' that night.

Usually, in the past, I would just drag Taemin to things like this and pass him off as my boyfriend, but he'd been seeing someone for the past two years or so, so he was off the table at the moment. I'd never actually met this so-called boyfriend of his, but he insisted that he did have one, so I had to respect that.

Groaning in frustration, I rubbed my hands over my face before digging in my pocket for my phone.

I really was not prepared to deal with all the judging whispers and the fake sympathetic looks. All I wanted was to enjoy the wedding and celebrate comfortably with two people I was incredibly close with, was that really too much to ask?

My fingers moved faster than my brain could keep up with, dialing a number I knew a little too well and then holding the phone up to my ear.

It only rang twice before being picked up.

"If you just got the invitation and you're trying to solicit my fake boyfriend services, you know I don't do that anymore." The familiar voice spoke immediately.

"Taemin, I'm desperate." I mumbled, sounding more pathetic and defeated than I had intended to.

"Well, lucky for you, I am a genius and a  _ great  _ friend." Taemin stated, "I knew this was gonna happen, so I took the liberty of finding you an escort agency."

An escort? Isn't that like… "I don't need a prostitute, I need someone pretty on my arm."

"I said an escort, not a prostitute. That's two different things." He clarified, "I'm talking about those people that you pay to hang out with you for a day. Y'know, exactly what you need right now."

I paused. That sounded… oh, what was the word..? Oh yeah,  _ disastrous _ , that was it… "Or… you could come with me just one more time?"

"I'll text you the agency's number." He replied, ignoring me outright and immediately hanging up.

Thanks, Taem. Always a pleasure…

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

"So, how did you two meet?"

"Through Taemin." I answered my second cousin's stepmother simply.

I stood at a table that seated a bunch of my relatives with my arm placed possessively around my date for the night. I was probably holding him a little too tightly, a little too skew and _ incredibly _ awkwardly, but they seemed to be buying it, so that was a win in my book…

Since my only alternate options were to go to the wedding alone or just skip it altogether, I decided to take Taemin's advice and called the agency he recommended.

It was… an experience…

In hindsight, I should have at least looked them up online or something beforehand, because I had absolutely no idea what the hell I was doing or, more importantly, what exactly I was looking for in a fake relationship. Thankfully, the lady on the phone was incredibly patient with me through all my dumb stuttering and terribly disguised questions of 'Is this an escort service or, y'know, an  _ escort service _ '? She also asked if I was looking to hire someone in particular, which was the exact moment when I realized I'd only thought this through for a whole two seconds and no more.

Thankfully, this woman was an actual angel and she gave me a short little verbal questionnaire to determine which of their escorts were the best match for me. Since I haven't dated anyone in a while and, again, did _ zero _ planning, when she asked what I liked in a guy, I panicked and my brain decided that I should describe my previous fake boyfriend and just listed off random things about Taemin to the poor, sweet lady.

She matched me up with Kim Kibum.

Apparently he ticked most of the boxes of my not-so-ideal 'ideal guy' and I had a random moment of sheer, cold sweat panic when I realized that I very well may have just invited a second Taemin to the wedding and that thought was frankly terrifying.

Kibum's 'backstory' was that he was a dancer when he was younger but gave that up to study nursing and now works as a nurse in a small, rural hospital in the middle of nowhere where there isn't enough staff but everyone does their best to help. It was really cheesy, but that was apparently his favourite character to play and he'd done it so many times that he could answer any and all questions about his fake life that were thrown at him.

And, of course, me being me, I had no creative ideas of my own, so I went with it.

I met Kibum on the morning of the wedding. He seemed nice - which was strange because wasn't this guy supposed to be like Taemin? - and he, like the woman on the phone, was very understanding that I'd never done this before and did his best to guide me through everything. There were only a few simple rules that he had laid out; most of them were just general human decency things like ‘don’t degrade me’ or ‘don’t randomly throw a drink in my face when you’re using me to get back at your ex but then he walks in and wants to be with you again’. I got the feeling that one was from a personal experience.   


A bit of a more surprising rule was that I was not allowed to kiss him. Apparently, when he had first started escorting, he had made the decision that he would never kiss a client on the lips. It sounded a little strange to me, considering he was supposed to be convincing people that he was in a relationship with someone, but it was his rules and I was going to abide by it.

Talking to him was a little… unnerving? Because I never knew if that was his _ real _ personality or if he was acting already.

Not that it really mattered. What did matter was getting through the entire day without blowing our cover.

"Oh, are you a friend of Taeminnie's?" My great aunt asked.  _ Taeminnie _ ?

Kibum shrugged, "I wouldn't say that. Just an acquaintance." He had never actually met Taemin...

"Y-yeah…"

That was me. I was stuttering. Goddammit…

My companion, however, was a professional and the smile on his lips didn't falter in the slightest even as his fingers dug lightly into my side. Probably in a silent, well warranted 'just let me do the talking' gesture.

"Minho." my aunt - Jonghyun's mother - spoke up behind me suddenly, causing me to spin around quickly to face her, "Please go check on Jonghyun, he was having problems with his clothes earlier."

What kind of problems could he _ possibly  _ be having? With his clothes, of all things. All he needed to do was put his limbs in the appropriate places…

But, to be fair, I had been a  _ terrible  _ best man and I probably should have been helping him get ready anyway. I'd just been a little preoccupied with trying not to have a stroke from essentially lying to everybody for an hour.

I nodded at her and briefly turned back to my extended family, flashing them what I hoped was a convincing smile before taking ahold of Kibum's hand and leading him away from the crowd.

"You aren't the smoothest, are you?" The escort mused, that same easy smile still on his face.

"I've never done anything like this before."

Kibum tilted his head, "You told me you and your friend used to pretend to be a couple all the time. This is the exact same thing."

"No, it's different." I argued as we stepped into the passageway outside the main hall, "Taemin and I have been friends for _ years _ . I know everything about him. Somebody just has to ask me when your birthday is or what your favourite colour is and I'll be completely screwed."

"Well, according to what they know, we've only been dating for a month or so. It's normal to not know  _ every _ little detail about each other yet." The other man explained, "You need to relax. Everyone will be ten times more suspicious of us if you're so on edge."

I knew that. Didn't make it any easier.

"Right…" I mumbled offhandedly.

Kibum sighed, "So… are we going to see the happy couple?"

"We're going to see one half of the happy couple." I replied, "My cousin."

"Ah, right. You're his best man, you did tell me that."

I glanced at him through the corner of my eye as we neared Jonghyun's room, "See? These are things my boyfriend should know."

"Ugh, calm down, it just slipped my mind."

We paused in front of the heavy wooden door while I knocked.

"By the way, my favourite colour is pink and my birthday is September 23rd." Kibum stated, moving forward a little until he was in my peripheral vision as we both tried our best to ignore the crashing noises coming from inside the room, "Yours is blue. And December 9th." I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged, "I may have forgotten your best man status, but I'm good with remembering dates and random facts."

"That's good." I replied with a relieved half sigh, "Hopefully that'll--" before I could even finish that sentence, the door had suddenly swung open and I was being violently tugged into the room in the blink of an eye by yet another member of my crazy family; the important one this time.

There's no reason why Jonghyun should have been fast enough or strong enough to pull off that feat. Also… there's no reason why he should have been shirtless and a  _ complete _ mess twenty minutes before getting married, but clearly there was no logic to this man…

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, finally noticing that he seemed quite frantic. And also that he had shut the door in Kibum's face.

"I'm freaking out, that's what!" He stated matter-of-factly as I opened the door to let a very confused Kibum into the room, "There's twenty minutes left and I broke my shirt and I don't have a backup and--"

"Wait, hold on." I interrupted because…  _ what _ ? "You… broke your shirt? Did you tear it? What happened?"

He took a deep breath and clenched and unclenched his fists in some weird relaxation ritual, "Ok… I… had my suit altered and dry cleaned and pressed and all that jazz. But my shirt is just a plain white shirt, it's not fancy at all, so I figured I'd just wash it normally and iron it myself. So I did. But I didn't realize that it shrunk in the washer or the dryer or, I dunno, wherever."

"You sure you didn't just gain weight?" I threw out oh so helpfully.

Jonghyun swiftly lifted his index finger right in front of my face, calming down just long enough to hit me with a "Shut the fuck up." He took a deep breath and continued, "So, obviously I had to wear a shirt cause I'm not getting married looking like some rich gigolo. I somehow managed to get it on.  _ Somehow _ .  _ But then _ , all at once, all the buttons just self destructed and the only one that survived was the one on the collar. So yes, to answer your question, I  _ broke _ my shirt."

"Oh… uh… you can have mine?" I offered, not really sure how else to respond to that. I spent the whole morning lying to everyone and being completely on edge, so my mind wasn't really working at a hundred percent.

"No, you're gonna be up there with me too, I can't have a stripper for a best man." Jonghyun had a comparison for everything when he was stressed, it was such a strange, but weirdly interesting, quality…

"Then I'll go get you a new one, you might just have to postpone the wedding for like ten to twenty minutes or so." I suggested.

"No, we can't do that, the itinerary is quite full, we can't push anything back." He buried his face in his hands and groaned, pacing in a weird circle. Suddenly, without even opening his eyes, he spun towards Kibum and placed his hands heavily on my fake boyfriend's shoulders, locking eyes with him intensely, "Give me your shirt. Who are you anyway?"

Kibum giggled as I walked over and managed to create some space between the two of them because being grabbed by a client's cousin must have been against some sort of rule, "This is Kibum. My new boyfriend."

"He's an escort, isn't he?" Jonghyun asked weakly.   


Stressed Jonghyun is from another, far more superior planet than relaxed Jonghyun who once got his head stuck in a bird cage. At the age of twenty three. With the bird still inside.

Since those psychic abilities were highly impressive, I couldn't lie to him further, "He is indeed." I admitted, sitting on the edge of the gigantic bed in the middle of the room.

"Ok. Good." He muttered before turning back to Kibum, "Please give me your shirt."

Kibum looked Jonghyun up and down then tilted his head, "It might be a bit small. Your shoulders are wide and you're a lot more built than I am."

"I have no other choice. Please."   


You know, if someone had told me four years ago that I would end up sitting awkwardly in a, quote, 'bridal suite', watching as my cousin, fifteen minutes before his own wedding, undressed my escort date that I paid  _ actual money _ to be here with me, I'm not a hundred percent sure I would have ever introduced Jinki to Jonghyun.

But yeah, that was an actual thing that was happening.

Thankfully, by some miracle, Kibum's shirt, while being just a little tight, did pretty much fit Jonghyun without the buttons straining and threatening to nope out at any second - which, by the way, now that he, and in turn, I, was significantly calmer, the hilarity of that image had become apparent and I found myself giggling under my breath.

Both of them turned to look at me - Kibum wearing a fancy suit jacket and no shirt underneath and Jonghyun looking dishevelled in a white shirt that was a size or two too small for him - both looking mildly offended.

Whoops…

"I'm not laughing at you, Kibum. I'm laughing at this fool that decided to wash, dry and iron his shirt and apparently just never actually look at it."

"Well forgive me for not thinking that my shirt would randomly shrink." Jonghyun shot back. He gasped suddenly, eyes going wide, "Oh my God… what if this is a sign? What if something in the universe is trying to keep me from marrying Jinki?"

I sighed, about to say something snarky, like how the universe had better things to do than fuck with him, but Kibum took a step forward and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Sweetheart… do you not _ want _ to marry him?" He asked, voice soft and oddly serious.

"What? No, of course I do." Jonghyun insisted, "But I'm just worried because things are already going wrong, what if the rest of day goes th--"

"If you're in love with him…" Kibum interrupted, "and he's obviously in love with you and you want to spend the rest of your lives together… then does it really matter if things don't go as planned?"

Jonghyun blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

"By the end of the day, one way or another, you'll be married, right?" Kibum continued, "You'll be married to the man you love. It'll be official. Today is just one day in the rest of your lives. So if things  _ don't _ go completely according to plan today, you guys can make up for it tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. And the God knows how many decades after that." He smiled as Jonghyun seemed to be slowly calming down as he took in everything he was being oh so delicately told. Kibum was weirdly good at this. "You and your fiancé have something that's not easy to come by. So don't worry… you two can deal with anything as a team."

I had the urge to applaud but managed to hold myself back. Silence fell over the room as Jonghyun took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, eyes closed and looking far more serene than he had a few minutes ago.

"Uh, yeah, you're right." Jonghyun finally replied. He wasn't  _ totally _ convinced, I could see that, but he wasn't freaking out either, so it was progress at least. He smiled at Kibum and huffed softly, "We still have a few minutes left, I'm gonna go get some air. I just… need a moment."

Kibum - apparently Jonghyun's new BFF - nodded and squeezed his shoulder before the groom to be walked away from us to stand on the balcony.

Now it was time for the applause.

Once I was sure Jonghyun was not paying any attention to us, I slow clapped as Kibum bowed like a Victorian era gentleman.   


"That was really good." I stated.

He shrugged, "I date people for a living, Babe. I'm in the business of love."

"Thanks. I don't think I would've been able to handle him quite as well." I admitted, "I probably would have just told him to suck it up and get married, to be honest…"

Kibum snorted, "Wow, you're romantic. I'm starting to see why you're single."

Well, ouch… "Hey! You're also… wait." I looked at him in intrigue, "You are single, right? Your six foot seven, bodybuilder boyfriend isn't gonna hunt me down, is he?"

"No, but my five foot zero, artist wife might."

Wait, what..?

…

_ What _ ?!

"I'm kidding." He finally spoke after the most awkward pause of my life, "I am single." Just as I was about to sigh in relief, he narrowed his eyes and smiled coyly, putting me back on guard instantly, "Or am I?"

"Ah, don't do this to me Kibum, you stress me out enough already." I… whined.

He chuckled and sat down next to me, "No, I've been single for a while. That's why I do this. I get the romance without, y'know, all the other baggage."

Huh, well that sounded like it had a story behind it…

But he was a hired service worker, not a friend - I had to keep reminding myself of that - so, as much as I wanted to ask, I didn't know how inquisitive I was allowed to be. Whatever happened in his past was none of my business, right?

"Bad experience?" I asked, deciding to be more vague than I'd originally wanted to.

"Uh… You could say that..." He glanced at his watch, "Hey, shouldn't you guys get going? It's time, isn't it?"

Ah right, the wedding.

"Oh shit, yeah, we're late." I stood and glanced at Jonghyun standing on the balcony with his too tight shirt, tousled hair and just generally looking like it was the _ end _ of the wedding rather than the beginning.

Yeah, we had some work to do. Fast.

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

They say hindsight is twenty-twenty… and yeah, in hindsight, Kibum and I leaving together and then coming back with Kibum's shirt suddenly MIA was bound to raise some eyebrows - some suggestively and some in cold judgement.

It was strange enough that a guy was wearing a suit and no shirt underneath, but members of my family that had met Kibum before knew that he was, in fact, previously in possession of a shirt.   


Maybe Jonghyun was right. Maybe the universe had decided to fuck with this wedding.

But even so, the wedding went off without a hitch. It started a few minutes late - because of us and our delayed attempt at making Jonghyun presentable - but, aside from that, it all went according to plan. Nobody forgot the ring, nobody messed up their vows, Roo - Jonghyun’s dog turned flower girl - walked in a relatively straight line next to Jonghyun's sister, nobody tripped - which is weird because Jinki was involved in this marriage after all - and no disgruntled ex lovers burst in when the 'if anyone has any reason these two shouldn't be married blah blah blah' part of the ceremony happened.

The actual 'getting legally married' portion of the wedding only lasted less than an hour, but then it was on to the reception. Which is where my issues would usually have gotten so much worse.

But I had Kibum with me this time.

"So!" Taemin started loudly, plopping his ass down  _ on _ the table of the wedding party like an uncultured caveman, "Introduce me."

"Can you have a little bit of class? Like… just a little?"   


He ignored me outright and instead decided to lean over to hold a hand out to my date, "Hi. I'm Taemin. You must be Minho's new…" he narrowed his eyes and made his voice dramatically deeper,  _ "boyfriend." _

Wow. So inconspicuous...

There were six other people at this table and Taemin had zero subtlety. If the entire hall of guests knew that Kibum was an escort by the end of the night, it would one hundred percent be Taemin's fault.

"Ah, yes." Kibum replied, taking ahold of Taemin's hand, "I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh? What have you heard?" Taemin asked, sounding more nervous than he probably should have.

"Don't worry," I cut in, "he doesn't know about your ant fetish."

"His wha--"

"Oh, does he know about your thumb sucking habit though?" Taemin shot back.

"That was years ago!" I insisted. It was. I don't suck my thumb, I am a stable, grown adult.

"Yeah, about… what, five years ago?"

That's not the point. "Either way, it's in the past. You still have anime sheets on your bed."

"And some nights I also have a boyfriend on that bed."

Well...

Fuck.

I didn't have a comeback for that.

Kibum chuckled next to me, "Wow, K.O."

"Whatever..." I know when to take a loss. But I also know when to change the subject, "So, do I finally get to meet your imaginary boyfriend?" I asked, looking around.

"He's not here yet." He replied immediately, "He's still working. He'll be here later."

"Uh-huh…" At this point, I was convinced that this guy just didn't exist. Why would he lie about it though? And for two whole years.

All I knew about him was that he and Taemin used to work together and then Taemin quit as soon as they started dating. I'd been at Taemin's place pretty much every weekend over the past two years and this guy was always either 'working' or 'spending time with his family' which, sure makes sense I guess, but how much time does a presumably grown man need to spend with his family?

But hey, he must have had a good reason for lying to me, right?

"Anyway…" Taemin turned back to Kibum, "I'm very sorry. You could have been on a date with a millionaire or some Hollywood superstar tonight… but instead you got Minho."

Taemin is actually the devil…

I sighed in exasperation and leaned down to hit my head against the table repeatedly. Maybe if I gave myself a concussion, I'd forget Taemin even existed.   


Kibum, who seemed to be infinitely amused throughout this entire encounter with Satan, laughed again, "He does appear to be very unromantic."

"Oh, don't I know it..." Taemin agreed. What the hell was he on about? Of course I wasn't romantic with Taemin, we were friends! Even those times we pretended to be together to get everyone off our backs, we were masters at acting like a couple while still getting away with zero skinship.

Before I could word my outrage at my friend's accusation of my questionable romantic prowess, I felt Kibum stroke my hair and all my complaints got stuck in my throat.

"But he's cute. I like him."

Wow that felt nice. The hair stroking was calming, sure, but the sincerity in his words felt… warm.

But wait…

"It's ok, you're paid to like him." Yeah, my thoughts exactly, Taemin.

Kibum just chuckled and I, for some reason, was weirdly disappointed.   


He was an escort, not a friend. And definitely not anything else.

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

Leading up to the wedding, when planning my best man speech, I had thought about jotting down topics and just winging it once I actually got in front of everyone.

Thankfully, I thought something through for once and instead wrote it word for word, practicing it a few times beforehand as well. Because, with the stressful day of being tired, having to deal with Jonghyun's mood swings, keeping up a lie in front of everyone and now having these confusing thoughts about my escort companion, my mind would not have been able to conjure up anything up there.

But I gave my speech, Jonghyun looked like he wanted to punch me a few times for all the intentionally placed TMI episodes, Jinki laughed sheepishly at the anecdote about how he and I were friends first before Jonghyun stole him and everybody clapped at the end.

Jinki's best man gave the next speech, followed by Jonghyun's sister and finally, their mother.

Then it was finally -  _ finally  _ \- time to eat. I was starving.   


Kibum raised a judging eyebrow when I took two plates at the start of the buffet line, "I know you're hungry, but you can just come back for seconds."

"It's not for me." I chuckled in response, "Jonghyun wants me to get him and Jinki some food cause they don't know if they'll get the chance to eat properly."

"Why wouldn't they?"

I shrugged, "You've met Jonghyun, you've seen how much he worries about everything. I'd rather just do this for him and keep his stress levels down as much as possible."

"Oh?" He placed a hand on his chest, "Are you finally being a good best man? I'm shocked."   


I shot him a look but chose not to respond to that sass, instead opting to grab as much finger foods as I could and pile it into both plates.

"Both plates are for them?" Kibum asked.

"Yeah. I'll get these to them and I think I'll come through here again for mine." I noticed him glance back at the line behind him, maybe checking to see if he could get a plate for me? Maybe? "Oh, but you can eat, I'll catch up with you later."

He looked… upset, but he nodded anyway, "Yeah... ok."

Why the hesitation? Did he want to eat together? Did he just not want to eat alone? Was I suddenly overthinking every move Kibum made since he called me cute and said he liked me?

Yes. That last one was definitely true.

But I'd already gotten myself into this whole 'I'm keeping Jonghyun's stress levels down' situation, so if I blew that off and ate with Kibum, he'd see me as an even worse best man than I had been. But if I didn't eat with him, he might be sad and lonely and ugh, I hated that thought so much.

A had the brief thought that Kibum was only around for today and Jonghyun would forgive me, but thankfully the rational side of my mind kicked in and I realized I hadn't even really spent time with my cousin and my good friend on their wedding day. And also, I'd done it in the speech, but I hadn't even congratulated them personally yet. I wasn't just a bad best man, I was just a terrible person at this point.

So yeah, as much as I would like Kibum to call me cute again, I continued filling the plate until I deemed it to be a sufficient amount and turned back to him, "You'll be ok by yourself, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He replied, "Maybe I'll ask Taemin to give me company since his boyfriend still isn't here."

I snorted, "Of course he isn't." With a step backwards, I smiled at him, "I'll see you later."

He waved with his free hand and I hastily made my way to the main table, trying not to drop anything in the process.

"I hope you know I'm giving up spending time with a cute guy to make sure you get fed."

"I hope you know it's my wedding and I am a king today." Jonghyun shot back, "So control your hormones, pheasant."

Chuckling, I placed the two plates down on the table in front of him while Jinki chatted with some members of his family nearby. Maybe Jonghyun really was right about them not getting time to eat.

"Thanks, I'm really hungry." Jonghyun said with a tired sigh.

I pulled an unoccupied chair and sat down opposite him, picking at the bite sized food, "Are you tired already? There's still photos and dancing and all that stuff to go."

"Ugh, don't remind me." He groaned before laughing, "Don't get me wrong, I'm so ecstatically happy to finally be married to Jinki. But damn, today has been exhausting."

"I know." I replied lightly, "Maybe if you eat something, you'll get some energy back."

"Yeah." He popped a piece of... something in his mouth and didn't even start to chew before speaking again, "How's your fake date going?"

"You say that like me having a fake boyfriend is a new thing." I mused, receiving a chuckle in response, "It's going ok. He's nice, I like him."

"Mm, you sure you don’t like him  _ too _ much?" He asked.

What was that supposed to mean?

"I'm aware of who he is." I assured, "I just meant that he's comfortable to hang out with."

"Uh-huh." He smirked, looking at me with a glint in his eye. Jonghyun clearly didn't believe me in the slightest and, at this point, I was so close to being convinced that he was  _ actually _ psychic…   


Yeah, ok, I can't deny that I'd thought about Kibum being more than just a one time date. But all that meant was that he was good at his job. He literally got paid to create the fantasy of a relationship, I couldn't help but get more into it than I probably should have.   


I hadn't made a move on Kibum or anything stupid like that, though. I knew what the boundaries were. Jonghyun, however, based on knowing him my whole life, didn’t seem to believe in boundaries. He was the kind of person that would order one of those birthday cupcakes with the sparklers for whoever he was with at a restaurant, even when it wasn’t their birthday, and watch with way too much glee as his companion shrivelled up in embarrassment from the wait staff singing at them. Jonghyun was unhinged.

But he was the one who just got married I guess…

“I’m pretty sure it’s against some sort of rule to try and get more from an escort.” I finally replied, earning a suggestive grin at the unfortunate way I worded that. “I mean… in the emotional way…”

Jonghyun shoved something else in his mouth from the plate of goodies - because, apparently, he couldn’t talk without his mouth full - before continuing, “Why? He’s a person too, he’s not just some pretty android. Find out if he’s single and ask him out.”

“He is single. I asked.”

“There you go.” he went on, “Turn on whatever little charm you have and go for it. And if he rejects you, at least you know you’ll never have to see him again.”

There was support  _ somewhere _ in those sentences…

I sighed and, before I could reply, suddenly Jinki was next to me, leaning over the table towards Jonghyun.

“Gotta go hang out with my grandmother.” he explained quickly before opening his mouth and making a quiet “Ahh” sound.

Ever so psychic Jonghyun picked up something from the plate and fed it to him. Jinki held it between his teeth and flashed him a wink and made a heart with his hands as he walked away and ugh, they’re so cute and endearing, it’s disgusting.

“You know what…” I clenched my fist in determination, spurred on by that completely unnecessary show of affection, “Fine. I’ll ask Kibum out.”

Because emotionally making brash decisions is the best way to go through life...

“Good luck.”

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

“What are you doing?”

“Hugging you.” I mumbled into Jinki’s shoulder as I had my arms wrapped around him from the side and my hands clasped together.

He chuckled, “Well… have fun with that then…”

I returned the laugh and pulled back to look at him, “I saw you for like two seconds today. I didn’t even say congratulations.” I squeezed him a little tighter, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” he tilted his head towards me, knocking me lightly on the chin.

His eyes were focused on the trio in front of the photo wall, doing weird crazy poses for the poor, super patient photographer to capture: Jonghyun, his sister and their mother. My crazy family.

Which reminded me…

“Hey!” I suddenly started a bit too loudly, startling Jinki a little, “We’re family now.”

“Oh good…” he replied flatly.

Rude.

Jinki and I had been best friends for many years. The two of us, along with Taemin, had essentially been the three musketeers as teenagers; always together and always getting up to mischief. And now we were actually family, it was strange but awesome.

“Now we just gotta get Taemin into this family.” I mused, “Can we set him up with Sodam?”

“Oh God, please don’t.” he laughed, “Plus, Taemin has a boyfriend.”

“Does he though?” I asked suspiciously, “Have you ever met this guy?”

To my surprise, he nodded, “Yeah. You haven’t? You don’t…  _ know _ about him?”

“Know  _ what _ about him?” How did Jinki know literally everything? Not even just about Taemin, but… everything, in general.

“Taemin’s seeing a--”

“Jinki!” Jonghyun’s mother cut in right when I was about the get all the juicy, high school esque gossip, “Come take some more photos with us.”

He smiled at her and turned to me briefly, removing my arms from around him, “I’ll tell you later.”

I pouted, watching him walk over to his new husband and inlaws. Guess I’d have to wait to find out what deep dark secrets Taemin was keeping from me, but the way Jinki’s expression lit up when he got to Jonghyun made everything ok.   


They really were perfect for each other.   


I’ll admit, years ago when they first started dating, I childishly kind of felt like my cousin was stealing my best friend from me. Thankfully I got over that pretty quickly and realized that it was more like two sides of my world were merging and that was far more fun.

I felt someone lean their head on the back of my shoulder and sigh. They wrapped their arms around my waist and I noticed, from the clear lack of shirt under the slightly rolled up coat sleeve, that it was my date that I’d barely spent any time with over the past two hours or so.

“Hey.” I greeted, placing my hands on top of his.

“I thought you forgot about me.” he whined quietly.

I played idly with his fingers, “Sorry.”

“I’m kidding.” he mused, “You’re at your cousin’s wedding, I know you’re gonna want to spend time with your family. I just got bored. Had to come find you.”

“What happened to Taemin?”

He chuckled, “Taemin is… interesting? He’s fun and cute, but... no offence, I know you guys are super close, but I really needed a break from him after a while.”

“Oh, no, I get it. He can be a bit eccentric.” I replied, actually surprised that Kibum even lasted that long.

“‘Eccentric’ is a nice way to put it.” he laughed, “But it’s ok. He’s adorable.”

We both fell silent. My earlier conversation with Jonghyun came floating back into my mind and I tensed a little, mentally cursing myself because Kibum was still latched onto me and he probably felt that.

I’d said that I would ask him out, but now, standing there, essentially cuddling with this man that I’d met a whole seven hours ago, it felt… wrong. This was something that had bothered me earlier as well: I didn’t technically know  _ him _ , I knew his professional persona. He could have been a spoilt brat; had anger issues;  _ actually  _ had a wife that was an artist like he said before. He may have even been using a fake name this entire time and I wouldn’t have even known.   


But I suppose there was only one way to find out…

“Kibum…”

“Mm?”

“Tell me something about yourself.” I asked quietly, hoping he could hear me over the noise, “Your real self.”

He paused for an extended period of time and I internally panicked. I should have asked him at the very end of the night. If he stormed out now, that would be a hundred times more mortifying than having everyone in my family question my singleness; the whole reason he was even there in the first place.

“I’m not that different, really.” he finally replied and I, for some reason, felt my heart rate increase instead of feeling relief, “I might be a little less, ahem… accommodating, but I’m pretty much the same.”

“Accommodating in what way?”

“Like, I don’t really voice my opinion when I’m on these dates.” he explained, “I put up with a lot of shit because I have to.”

“Ah…” I nodded in understanding, “Like Taemin.”

He smacked me lightly on my stomach, laughing, “No! He’s a sweet baby. But… yeah, real me probably would have  _ told _ him he’s a bit much, instead of just saying I wanted to come see you to get away.”

“I get it.” I replied before taking a deep breath. It was now or never, I guess, “So... have you ever… dated a client? O-outside of work, I mean.” I almost got through that without sounding incredibly nervous, but I think that stutter may have given me away completely.

He chuckled, shifting so that his forehead was no longer on the back of my shoulder and suddenly he was breathing on my neck and, no, that was not good because we were in public and in full view of, not only my cousins, but my aunt as well and I could not be held accountable for the way my body may or may not have reacted.   


Keep it together, Minho...

“I never have... but maybe I will.” He spoke, voice at a near whisper, “Ask me when I’m off work.”

With that, he leaned up and pressed a kiss against the nape of my neck and I was pretty sure my heart had beat clean out of my chest.

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

Slow dancing with Kibum meant holding him a little too tightly and staring stiffly at his face to avoid my eyes wandering over his neck, down over his collarbones and to his chest; made very visible due to the fact that, again, he was lacking a shirt.   


Would I have to reimburse him for that?

I chuckled at my own thoughts and he looked at me quizzically.

"You know, you still scare me." I admitted.

He raised an eyebrow, "I  _ scare _ you?"

"Yeah. I know you said that you're not a  _ completely _ different person when you're working, but… how do I know when you're acting and when you're not? Like, are you flirting with me because you like me or are you doing it because you're a great escort?"

"Both." He mused with a small smirk on his face, "I do like you… but I also pride myself in efficiently giving a client the real boyfriend experience, so they feel like we really have been dating for a while."

"So how can I know that you're not just saying you like me to give me 'the boyfriend experience'?" I asked.

He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again and leaning in closer to me, "Do you remember… the one rule I had about PDA?"

"One rule?" I questioned, trying to remember what he had told me before, "No kissing?"

Oh.

_ Oh… _

I'd hit the nail on the head apparently because his lips were suddenly pressed gently against mine. Super soft and feather-light, but it was a kiss, he kissed me.  _ He kissed me _ .   


My mind was blank when he pulled away just as quickly, pursing his lips together. I opened and closed my mouth, not knowing how to respond to what just happened.

Thankfully, Kibum broke the suffocating silence. "Is it a little clearer now?" He whispered, tilting his head.

I nodded, still unable to get my thoughts together long enough to form a coherent sentence. It was clearer, sure, but what did that actually mean? He really did like me. But did he want to date me? Was I just his favorite client? What was I supposed to do from here?

A hand on my back pulled me out of my stupor and I glanced back to see Jinki standing next to me.

"Hey. Sorry." He bowed slightly towards Kibum before turning to me, "Do me a favour?"

"What?" I asked, reluctantly letting go of my date.

He put his arm around my shoulders and turned us both to look in a seemingly random direction. I blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what he wanted from me. All I could see was people slow dancing; mostly couples. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

I glanced at him and before I could ask anything, he pointed and I looked through the crowd again.

And I noticed what - or rather  _ who  _ \- he was looking at.

Taemin sat alone at his table, staring at his phone. If there was someone who would usually be the first person on the dance floor - slow dancing or not - it was Taemin. Hell, he probably would have danced by himself on most occasions, but this time…   


This boyfriend of his better have accidentally gotten stuck in Europe or something because he was going to need a damn good excuse for standing him up.

"Come on." Jinki squeezed my shoulder gently, obviously insinuating that we go to him.

I glanced over my shoulder at Kibum who cocked his head in Taemin's direction in what I took as a sign of acceptance before I made my way to my best friend.

As soon as he spotted us, he slapped on a smile and sat back casually in his chair, "Hey what's up?"

Jinki and I exchanged glances, coming to a silent, almost telepathic agreement and I reached forward and took ahold of Taemin's hand, lifting him to his feet.

"What's going on?" He questioned in confusion as Jinki took his other hand.

We walked back to the dance floor and Taemin laughed when he realized what was happening, "Are we, like, three way slow dancing?"

"That's exactly what we're doing." Jinki replied, draping himself over him and starting to sway to the music with Taemin laughing all the while.   


I watched them for a moment as a warm nostalgia washed over me. Until Jinki shot me an expectant look and I finally gave in and put my arms around both of them, joining in the swaying.

People were probably looking at us, especially since this was Jinki's wedding and yet he was huddled in a little pile with two other guys while his husband was… somewhere. Probably having dessert, let's be real.   


That didn't matter though, we were having fun. Something we hadn't really done together for a long time.

I lifted my head to look over Taemin's shoulder and noticed that, yeah, people were staring. Jonghyun and Sodam were sitting together at a table, sharing a bowl of something - probably dessert because, again,  _ my family _ . But my eyes quickly wandered from them and locked onto Kibum. He was standing a little further out of the dance floor, watching us fondly.

I smiled.   


He smiled back.

Jonghyun was wrong. The universe had been good to us today.

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

“So, where are we going?” Jonghyun asked, kicking at my shoes off-handedly.

I looked up at him from my seated position at a random table, “Hm?”

The venue was so quiet now in comparison to just around an hour ago. Most people had left already and those that were still here, like myself, were mostly family and people who had come from far away and would be staying in the attached hotel. Venue staff were cleaning up already with Jonghyun’s mother supervising them and had she insisted that we shouldn’t be doing any cleaning ourselves, so we were just waiting in the meantime.

“Where are we going for the after party?” Jonghyun clarified.

“After party?” I questioned, “I would have thought you’d wanna go to bed as soon as possible.”

He narrowed his eyes and somewhat glared at me. Was that too much?

“We can go out.” I continued, trying to hide my laugh, “I’m sure there’s some sort of club or something nearby, I’ll look it up. We should just figure out how many people are coming.”

He nodded and immediately turned his gaze to the seat next to me, locking eyes with Kibum, “You up for it?”

Kibum glanced at me, “Um…”   


Ah… right… I probably should have done this earlier, but…

“Kibum, the wedding’s over, you’re free to leave if you like.” I stated, “Thank you for today, you made it really enjoyable.”

He seemed a little uncomfortable as he turned back to look at Jonghyun.

“So, now that you’re off the clock.” I continued, leaning in close and grabbing his attention once again, “You wanna go out?”

He paused for a second before chuckling, “‘Out’ as in to the club?”

“For a start. Then we’ll see where it goes from there.” Wow. When did I become so smooth?

“I did tell you to ask me when I was off work.” He spoke softly, “I didn’t say I’d say ‘yes’.”

I felt my face fall. Why did he have to shoot me down when I was feeling good about myself like that?

“Don’t look at me like that.” he laughed, probably at the overly sad expression I was subconsciously wearing, and pecked me on the tip of my nose, “I’m joking, I’m not that mean. Yes, I’ll go out with you guys. And yes... I’m interested to see where things go with you too.”

And just as quickly as my expression fell, I smiled again, closing my eyes and leaning my forehead against his.

“I am still here, just so you know.” Jonghyun piped up from beside us.

“I… really don’t care.” I replied light-heartedly, not bothering to move at all.

I heard him groan and quickly walk away, mumbling a childishly sarcastic “ _ Best man _ …”

As I pulled away from Kibum, something caught my eye and I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

Taemin was sitting on the furthest, corner-most table, attached at the mouth with some guy in a really  _ really _ fancy suit. Being part of the wedding party, I had made a point to greet everyone throughout the day, but I’d never seen this guy. Was this Taemin’s infamous boyfriend that apparently only  _ I _ knew nothing about?

“He’s wearing a ring.” Kibum stated, evidently also looking at the display and, true enough, the guy was wearing a ring. As in, a wedding ring. He was also wearing an  _ incredibly _ expensive watch.

Wait…   


He was rich, married and Taemin was strangely secretive about him. So, either Taemin had, at some point, fallen in love with a married man, or...

“Is Taemin a sugar baby?” Kibum came to the same conclusion I did, amusement evident in his voice.

I groaned and turned away from them to drop my head to the table. I wouldn’t put it past Taemin to pull something like that. That would explain why he quit his job when they started dating.   


Not that I was in any position to judge him; I had hired an escort after all…

Kibum rubbed circles on my back, still giggling, “I mean, you gotta admire his ingenuity. Maybe I should’ve gone down that road.”

I turned my head just enough to glare at him and he responded by leaning in and placing a kiss on my cheek, just brushing against the corner of my mouth.   


“Or maybe…” he whispered directly into my ear, “maybe some weird guy who cares too much about his friends and used to suck his thumb will be everything I need.”

There was some sass in there. But that didn’t matter.

Because I hoped for that too.

**•┈┈┈••✦✧✦••┈┈┈•**

**Author's Note:**

> To the person who requested this prompt, I really hope you liked it!  
Sorry if it's a bit short. I had a lot of fun with it though~^^


End file.
